


Where in the world is Quentin Coldwater?

by Nemainofthewater



Series: Operation: reward ThebanSacredBand for surviving exam season [5]
Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Fix-It, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Swearing, blatant lying, happiness, post 4x13, some people are better at it than others
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 08:45:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18517978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nemainofthewater/pseuds/Nemainofthewater
Summary: "Quentin Coldwater? Never heard of him."After Quentin escapes from the Underworld, people come looking for him. His friends have no idea where he is, no siree, never heard of the guy before.Sequel to Plausible Deniability, but can stand alone.





	Where in the world is Quentin Coldwater?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ThebanSacredBand](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThebanSacredBand/gifts).



> ThebanSacredBand finally something fluffy for you

 

1.

 

“Quentin Coldwater? Never heard of him.”

 

Zelda sighs.

 

“You can’t be serious,” she says, “Quentin Coldwater? You spent fifty years married to him?”

 

“Sorry, no. Doesn’t ring a bell. My tragic possession must have wiped all memory of him.”

 

Eliot shakes his head sadly and solemnly.

 

“Good luck finding Benton,” he says, and then promptly ignores her until she leaves.

 

(She doesn’t comment on the prominent hicky on his neck. Or his tousled hair. Or the self-satisfied look on his face. She doesn’t comment extremely hard).

 

2.

 

“He’s dead,” Margo says flatly, “Your boss killed him. Now if you’ll excuse me some of us have kingdoms to run.”

 

She doesn’t even try to hide the pristine first edition of ‘The World in the Walls’ lying prominently on her dresser. Margo follows Zelda’s pointed gaze.

 

“Research,” she says, “Because as I mentioned I have a fucking kingdom to run. Now. You can show yourself out.”

 

3.

 

“Quentin?” Penny says, “He died. In the Mirror Realm. Good riddance too, that dude’s mental shielding was shit.”

 

“Hey!” comes a distant voice, quickly cut off.

 

Penny stares straight into Zelda’s eyes.

 

“Sometimes I still hear his voice.”

 

4.

 

Julia sniffs. Bursts into tears.

 

“I’m sorry,” she says, perfect tears running down her face. Her mascara doesn’t smudge at all.

 

“It’s just all… so recent. I don’t like to think about it.”

 

“Of course,” Zelda says, taking a step back as Julia noisily blows her nose into an oversized handkerchief.

 

“I’m so sorry,” Julia says, “Don’t mind me.”

 

She continues to cry.

 

“I’ll just… leave you to it then,” Zelda says, and flees. She’s never done well with too many emotions.

 

5.

 

“Are you serious?” Kady demands, Pete a disapproving shadow behind her, “Why the hell are you asking me this bullshit question?”

 

“I know that you procured a large amount of living clay recently,” Zelda says patiently, “And it stands to reason that-”

 

Kady cuts her off.

 

“For that I’m increasing our demands in section 3, subsection ii.”

 

Zelda groans. Bends back over the treaty.

 

“I think you’ll find that section 3 is already perfectly balanced-”

 

6.

 

“What? Quentin? Haven’t seen him recently. Because he’s dead! Of course he’s dead. Dead as a doornail, kicked the bucket, gone to meet his maker-”

 

Josh cuts himself off abruptly and shoves a plate of cake into Zelda’s hand.

 

“Here!” he says desperately, “New recipe I’m trying out. Taste it for me.”

 

By the time Zelda looks up he’s disappeared. The cake is excellent though.

 

7.

 

Alice takes one look at her and turns bright red.

 

“I don’t know anything!” she says and then slams her door shut.

 

+1

 

“So what, do you think she bought it?”

 

Alice rolls her eyes at Josh. “Of course she didn’t,” she says, making herself more comfortable on the hideously ugly and sinfully comfortable couch in Quentin’s living room. She makes an imperious gesture toward Kady, who rolls her eyes but passes the popcorn over anyway.

 

All eight of them are together for the first time in weeks, stretched out in various stages of relaxation.

 

Quentin and Eliot are curled together on one end of a sofa (“Nerds,” Margo muttered when she saw them) Eliot running his hands absent mindedly through Quentin’s hair. Julia has claimed the other end of their couch and has her legs stretched out and resting on Quentin’s lap. Penny is sprawled out on the floor next to her, forgetting to glare at everyone.

 

Margo and Josh have claimed the loveseat to the left of them, and one of Margo’s hands is clasped in Eliot’s. Josh is feeding her from an enormous bowl of popcorn, seasoned with his special sweet and spicy blend: Alice isn’t afraid to admit that she’d kill for the recipe.

 

“Stop hoarding Alice,” Kady demands, making grabby hands at their bowl. Alice rolls her eyes, takes one last handful of the fluffy mouthfuls of joy, and passes the bowl back down the sofa.

 

“Zelda isn’t an idiot,” Alice says, “But she doesn’t really want to find Quentin either. She just needs to tell the Underground branch that she tried.”

 

Quentin snorts.

 

“It’s all politics all the time,” he says, “Penny 40 was the same. Not able to officially help but dropping subtle hints everywhere.”

 

“Subtle?” Margo says, “Q, I love you, but I swear you wouldn’t know subtle if it hit you in the cock.”

 

“Hey!” Quentin protests unconvincingly, “I can do subtle.”

 

“Quentin darling,” Eliot says, “You really can’t. Seriously. You can’t.”

 

Quentin pouts, actually pouts! but concedes the point.

 

“Shut up everyone,” Penny says, “It’s about to start.”

 

“You won’t believe what I had to do to avoid spoilers,” Kady says.  
  


Alice hums in agreement. She’s been a social media pariah recently, not that she’s really one that often. She can’t imagine how hard it must have been for Penny.

 

“Fucking hard, that’s what. So, stop thinking so loudly and let me enjoy this.”

 

They all settle down, and Eliot waves an elegant hand. The television switches itself on, and, surrounded by her friends, Alice finally gets to binge the final season of Game of Thrones.

**Author's Note:**

> The most implausible bit is that they all avoided GoT spoilers, right? Right?  
> I am on Tumblr as [Nemainofthewater ](https://nemainofthewater.tumblr.com)


End file.
